Time To Figure It Out

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

With all of this virus hubbub over the last several months, some other important things have escaped my attention.
Between constantly washing the hands, trying hard not to touch my face, keeping six feet away from others and making sure to watch the news on the daily virus statistics to remember that I need to be very scared, other things have slipped by the wayside.
For instance, it is only a little over three months until I am eligible for Medicare and I haven’t done a darn thing about it.
Like everyone else in the country between 64 and 65 years old, I have been receiving piles of mail from different companies that are there to help guide me through the rocky terrain of this milestone.
When I first started getting these mailers late last year, once my life clock struck sixty-four, I did not think much of it. I figured I had plenty of time and eventually they all headed for the shredder.
I even took the time to use Medicare as fodder for a column or two. Poking fun at all the different Medicare options and making up new ones when I really didn’t know anything at all about this medical coverage jigsaw puzzle.
Then came January and February and more mailers, but I still felt like I had plenty of time until I had to even think about any of this. I thought, “What could possibly happen between now and August… a pandemic or something?” So off to the shredder again.
Then came March and everything hit the fan. Signing up for Medicare was the last thing on my mind. I was way too consumed washing my hands, staying away from folks and, God forbid, not touching my face by accident.
So, while I continued to bring my attention to all of the new things we were now supposed to focus on (including giving dirty looks to people without masks and tattling on them to the proper authorities), the onslaught of mail from those reminding me that my destiny with Medicare was fast approaching got even more intense.
No longer having the time to carry the new load of postcards, letters and manuals to the shredder, they just went right into the garbage since we needed all available space in the house for extra toilet paper. (In hindsight, maybe those mailers could have served a purpose in an emergency.)
Now it is close to the three months before my Medicare sign up deadline and, realizing I am still here and might just make it to my sixty-fifth birthday even though I rubbed my eyes twice before washing my hands, the time has come.
I must tackle this Medicare beast!
I did skim through a few of the mailers during commercials on the 24/7 all Coronavirus news channels, but I didn’t really retain much of the information before they hit the shredder. How can one be expected to focus on something so selfish in times like these?
I did recall one booklet starting off simply enough explaining something like: “If you don’t sign up for Medicare when you first become eligible and don’t have coverage through an employer or other health plan you will immediately be sent to prison for ten years and share a cell with a member of MS-13” (or something like that).
I recall some of the booklets were free guides that were designed to make it simple for me to understand my options. Seeing they were 20-pages or more, I figured I would need to set aside a weekend (and maybe a Monday holiday) to study them.
Of course, I never did as they also found their way to the shredder to make more room for more hand sanitizer as well.
I do know, through some of my quick looks at the mailers, that there are all sorts of different plans with different letters that you can mix and match to help cover all of your Medicare needs. If I remember A & B are the basics and you can add C & D or just one or the other. There are also a bunch of other letters that you can use for this, that or the other thing but it really was too much for me to absorb considering I had a lot of things in my Netflix watchlist to get to as well.
When I was in kindergarten I remember proudly singing “Now I know my ABCs, tell me what you think of me.” Today, at sixty-four I know next to nothing about them. I’m hoping people don’t think any less of me.
I have about two weeks until my “three months before” clock starts ticking and I’m sure that there will still be more than a few mailers that will be coming at me in the interim reminding me that the time is nigh and I need to be doing something soon if I don’t want to be sharing a jail cell with an MS-13 member, or whatever the penalty might be.
I will now make an effort to actually look at these mailers as they arrive and try to realize what I really need to do as the deadline approaches.
I’m sure I’ll be fine. After all, what could possibly happen between now and November?

Brendan is the author of “The Flatlander Chronicles” and “Best Of A F.O.O.L In New Hampshire”. His newest book “I Really Only Did It For The Socks -Stories & Thoughts On Aging” will be available later this year. Brendan has also entertained audiences around New Hampshire with his storytelling presentations. To find out more visit his website at BrendanTSmith.com